


Nightmares

by LosttotheHoping



Series: Kage no Monogatari [13]
Category: Naruto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-13
Updated: 2013-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-18 02:44:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/874754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LosttotheHoping/pseuds/LosttotheHoping
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Itachi doesn’t let himself hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> Dedication: To radfel on deviantart for her wonderful piece [_Counting_](http://radfel.deviantart.com/art/Counting-153910654).

_all will be redeemed. in the end_

I hope.  ( _Breathing, gasping,_ ** _crying_** _oh god someone save me-_ )

Where are you?  So alone…  I’m so alone…

So…

“ _ANIKIIIIIIII!!!!_ ”

xXx

He sits up in bed, gasping again.  His breath is loud in the stifling silence.  He has a kunai in his hand, and his partner doesn’t move from the spot he crouches, knowing if he does Itachi will attack.

Itachi recovers quickly, the boy stiffens in place, staring through the darkness to the silhouette that is Kisame.  He says nothing, red eyes glowing.  Kisame doesn’t comment.  Itachi goes back to sleep.

xXx

“ _Aniki- aniki- WHY?!_ ”

Don’t look at me with those eyes.  Don’t look at me like that.  Sasuke…  ( _Save me, save me, Sasuke… oh god, please, make it end- PLEASE!_ )

_don’t worry.  the end will come soon.  it will come_

I’m dying.

xXx

His reactions have gotten better.  This time, he doesn’t wake up gasping.  Kisame watches his eyes snap open, glowing red in the muted gloom.  Practice makes perfect, and Itachi doesn’t look surprised to find Kisame awake.

“Go back to sleep.”

Those eyes watch him for a moment longer, before Itachi obeys.

xXx

The end has come.  I’m slipping away.

“ _There won’t be a next time.  Sasuke._ ”

His wide eyes follow me into the black, the void of death.  ( _I don’t want to die!  Someone save me, someone SAVE ME!_ )

I don’t want to die.

xXx

_i don’t want to die_

xXx

Please.  Someone.  Anyone.

xXx

Save me.

xXx

There is light when his eyes open again.  There’s light, and a woman swaying as she kneels before him.  She crumbles to the ground, face expressionless, tears falling down her cheeks.

His eyes close again.

xXx

The next time he wakes, she’s crying her heart out.  The sound is pathetic, and heartbroken, and scared.  Somehow, he relates.  He feels a bit like crying himself, except he’s never cried, not since that first day when his family was dead and…

He reaches out, hand falling too hard against the grass, and pushes himself up.  The woman has fallen silent, frozen in place as she waits for him to do or say something.  He opens his mouth, but then closes it again and just watches her.

It’s all irrational.  He recognizes this girl, this iryonin kunoichi that is curled in a ball mere feet away, and it’s all irrational that he should even be here, in this place.

Nightmares and half-hopes that never fully bloomed in his chest are whispering in the back of his mind.  ( _Help me, save me, somebody._ )  He can’t help it; he starts to laugh, arms curling around his middle.

The irony is horrible, and wonderful, and dazzling.  His little brother’s teammate.  ( _The little brother whom for so long, I have wished to kill me.  My little brother who hates me by my own doing.  My little brother whom will never know the truth._ )

This was Sasuke’s teammate.  This was Sasuke’s woman, sitting here, sobbing in fear.  This woman that was rumored to be so powerful and so hot-headed.  This woman that had just _saved Itachi’s life_.

Finally, he manages to stop, and watches her a while before he whispers, “You’re Sakura.”

**Author's Note:**

> Bit of a companion piece to [_In the Hours_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/874752).
> 
> Disclaimer: Characters and Naruto do not belong to me, but to Masashi Kishimoto. I am responsible for creating the situation, and the storyline only. Please do not take and use or post elsewhere without my express permission. Thank you.


End file.
